Timing
by CloZack PASSION
Summary: Timing is everything...bad timing can end it all. CloTiCloudTifa NO AERIS BASHING!


{{A/N: I don't own anything. }}   
  
  


Tifa sat in the window of Cloud's old home in Nibelheim. She watched Cloud sitting outside at the well, staring up at the starry sky. She sighed, tears begining blur her vision. She wiped them away quickly, while thinking to herself. 

_'Why do I even stay here?'_ She asked herself. _'He doesn't need me here. He's in love with Aeris...I'm nothing to him...'_She tried to convince herself. She sighed, and left her seat in the window. _'I should leave. Cloud would be happier that way.'_ She walked towards her bed, and grabbed some of her things out of her small dresser, and stuffed them into one of her duffle bags. 

She stopped at a picture of herself and Cloud together, and wiped at hot tears that were building up at her eyes. She shoved the framed photo into the bag along with her other things, and zipped it up. 

Cloud didn't love her. She was done pretending. He wanted Aeris...she'd get out of his way. He never wanted her around anyways. The only reason he let Tifa come was because she was so pathetic. Tifa said those things to herself again and again as she prepared her bags.   


Cloud stared up at the heavens, a pain stabbing at his heart. This same painfull feeling he was hit with so often lately. He felt this guilt that he was betraying Aeris. 'Stop it!' He'd command himself. He and Aeris weren't anything but friends. 

There was never a great exchange of emotions, or a few words to make a couple. Just a friendship. Cloud wished he could've told her how he felt when she was alive...but then, there was a part of him that didn't. That part of him that felt Aeris was just another girl. 

Just like all the other girls he'd run into. Not the one for him. He'd never quite felt complete with her...or anyone that he could recall. He knew that he felt that wholeness at one point, but it just seemed to have voided away into nothing at some point. 

While loving Aeris satasfied one part of his heart, another part was still lonely, and longed for something else. He wasn't too sure what it was he longed for. At first after Aeris died, he was sure she was what was missing. 

But after time, he realized that something wasn't quite there even before that. A wave of depression hit him. This was often how it was. He'd go to try and figure himself out, only to feel even worse from it all. He wished he could sort through everything he felt. Like he'd sorted through his past, and what really happened. 

But he didn't do that alone. And the thought that maybe he needed some help never crossed his mind. Maybe Tifa could help him out of this too. She was such a good friend to him. She could surely fix this, like she'd fixed the rest of his life. Suddenly he felt guilty. 

Was he using her, just to get his problems sorted out? Taking advantage of the great friendship they shared, only to free his mind from the confusion that liked to mask it. Pangs of guilt attacked his heart, and he suddenly jumped off the well, and headed towards his house, only to find Tifa picking up her packed bags. 

"Tifa! What are you doing!?" Cloud asked quickly, blocking the door, so she didn't just run off. Tifa sighed, and looked down. 

"I'm leaving." She said simply. Cloud looked bewildered. 

"What!? WHY??" He asked, nearly shouting. Tifa felt tears building up in her eyes, but was able to blink them back. She took a deep breath. 

"Like I said back when we were at the Gold Saucer....Timing is everything. And while I really thought I would've enjoyed my time here, and you would've enjoyed it as well...I was wrong. You're in love with Aeris, and I can never live up to the friend you found in her....." Tears finally pushed their way down her face, and Tifa didn't bother to wipe them away. 

"Tifa, wait!" He said quickly. Tifa shook her head, as she grabbed the last of her bags off her bed. 

"Don't bother trying to stop me. I don't want to waste any more of your time. I guess this is the end of the time we'll spend together...please know that I really treasured it while it lasted. Goodbye, Cloud...you'll always be my friend...my comapnion.......my love...." And Tifa walked out of the house, continuing out of the town. Cloud watched after her, untill she was out of site. He tried to call out to her, but his voice wouldn't work. 

Her last words pierced at his heart. She loved him all htis time, and he was too obsessed with what was missing to see it. To see that that missing thing was there all along, and he was ignoring it. He felt tears fall down his face. The first tears he'd shed since Aeris had died. 

Suddenly something caught his eye. The gleam of Ultima Weapon, which stood invitingly in the corneer of the room. He wrapped his hand around the hilt of the blade, and rased it to eye level. He survied the blade closely for the first time in months. 

He ran his thumb across the blade, and it sliced open the skin, leaving blood trailing down his hand and to the ground. It was still as sharp as ever. He thought to himself, and positioned the sword so the tip of the blade was rested agianst his shirt. It trembled from his heart pounding wildly against his ribcage, and causing slight tremors on his chest. 

'A meaningless effort...' he thought, hearing his heart's thumping in his ears. One well positioned stab and....   
  
  
  
  


_--The end--_

((A/N: Maybe I should write a sequel to this...or not. First single chapter story...aren't ya proud of me? Heh heh...just don't hurt me for not really giving an ending. I mean...you could probably figure it out on your own, but....maybe it isn't as it seems....Let me know if you think I should continue this. And PLEASE Review!)) 


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